That next day, we took Martina on a tour of San Clemente and Pisco. Fiorella let us use her car and Rene drove. Taking a tour through San Clemente is a big eye opener for anyone. The town is very impoverished. The majority of the residents live in shacks erected with this special type of siding called caña (sugar cane). Many of them don’t have water as the town is growing much faster than the infrastructure. We drove throughout the dusty streets and we stopped at the different Olla Comunes (Communal Kitchens) to spread the word about the inauguration. This ended up being quite an experience. Everyone recognized me and Martina…and I mean everyone. Apparently a lot more people watch the local talk show than I had expected. We were a big hit. At one of the Olla Comunes, there was a crowd of about 30 or 40 people. I talked to them about the clinic and extended an invitation to the inauguration. One of the girl’s requested a kiss and I gave her a peck on the cheek. The entire group erupted in cheers! I then went down the line a kissed all of the eager blushing ladies. I apparently had a bit of a fan club in San Clemente. I could get used to this.
We started on our way again. People would see us drive by and immediately recognize us and wave or the kids would chase the car. We passed one small olla comun and we noticed a young boy with his right eye completely clouded over. We stopped and Martina and I went to speak to the boy’s mother so she could take him to the clinic. Upon further inspection, the eye was not clouded over. It was a beautiful shade of blue. His mother had the same sky blue eye which was a stark contrast to her other dark brown eye. I have never seen anyone with two completely different eye colors like a Siberian husky. The little boy, who couldn’t have been more than three, was just as interested in me as I was with him. He let me take a series of photos of him and his beautiful eyes.
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